Unite the union has said the factory should become a "centre of excellence" for pouch tobacco and cigar production. However, its cost-cutting proposal would see the axing of cigarette lines and result in 376 job losses.

An alternative to closing the JTI Gallaher factory in Ballymena has been put forward by the Unite trade union... The union proposal would see the factory developed as a ‘centre of excellence’ for pouch tobacco and cigar manufacture, retaining 500 of the

Forty jobs at a Co Antrim cigarette manufacturer are set to be relocated abroad, an MP has claimed. North Antrim MP Ian Paisley Jnr said the contract jobs at Japan Tobacco International are to go to Poland. The positions are based at Gallaher's factory

North Antrim MP Ian Paisley has delivered an open letter, signed by 73 fellow MPs opposing measures for plain packaging on tobacco to Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. The MP says the letter is a result of a long campaign to demonstrate to the Government t

The smuggler whose container of cigarettes was hit by a rocket fired by al-Qaida on the Suez Canal has become the number one target for gardai. Investigations have shown that the man, in his mid-40s, has become one of Ireland's richest smugglers, supply

As a director for Fontem Ventures, an e-cigarette manufacturer, I agree with Dr McBride that stopping children from smoking is a "public health priority"....no scientific evidence to support the assertion that e-cigarettes "normalise smoking", or that the

Forty contract jobs at a County Antrim cigarette factory are being relocated to Poland and Romania. About 1,000 people are employed at the Gallahers cigarette factory at Lisnafillan in Ballymena. The company which runs the plant, JTI, said the relocati

The announcement by JTI, formerly Gallaher's, that production will move to other factories in the JTI group in Poland and Romania fits the logic of seeking lower costs of production in a market place where total production will possibly fall.

Should the proposals for minimum pack sizes and plain packaging for cigarettes come to fruition on December 10 then JTI would have to confirm over 300 job losses ‘quite literally overnight’, according to North Antrim MP Ian Paisley. Mr. Paisley made the